Chvrches are a band somehow able to transcend the automation, those perfect formulas that inspire the oft-insipid Top 40 while tapping into a well of indie aesthetics and influence to create the perfect pop group – music that everyone from all your high school clichés can enjoy.
Not since the 80s (a well that Chvrches drink dry) has an electronic band had the ability to feel and remain fundamentally personal and yet have the potential to be massively mainstream (I refer to The Blue Nile – more on them later).
Pop hasn’t really been that “cool” since the advent of the 90’s when British hipsters took salvation amongst saviours Suede, Blur, Oasis and Pulp all neatly wrapped up in the simple, if not tawdry label – ‘Britpop’.
New waves of ‘Britpop’ materialise every few years or so without ever having the potential to spring about a cultural fracas to the extent of Oasis at Knebworth or their chart battle with Blur. Chvrches are a long way from this status. Their debut was greeted well commercially, but rather modestly compared to other more explosive opening album figures (Think Arctic Monkeys or last years heavyweight champions of the world, Royal Blood). Their rise was built on unassuming, steady progression. Lead singer, Laura Mayberry set herself out as a rather charming young feminist icon (The Guardian) while inclusions on blockbuster soundtracks and video games (Drive, The Hunger Games, FIFA 14) pricked ears up stateside and introduced Chvrches to a more mainstream audience away from the indie adulation tucked away at NME HQ. Debut Album, ‘The Bones Of What You Believe’ has slowly but surely edged towards 1 million copies sold (largely through word of mouth as opposed to a front for some obnoxious corporate drones).
All this ‘selling out’ was to have surely diminished their output warned the music snobs, and yet Chvrches have continued to 
contradict this sorry cliché; this isn’t the anti-thesis for Generation X. In fact new album ‘Every Open Eye’ solidifies their electronic manifesto – Mayberry’s glacial vocals continue to soar and glide over a pulsating banquet of rich, textured synths. The result is heartbreaking, thrilling, tranquil, romantic, brutal. Conflicting emotions, all as strong as each other, bewitch and hypnotize, unfurling to reveal a highly nuanced and sophisticated sound. A warmth lies behind the electronics, an emotional heartbeat that drives the songs forward and connects the band to its audience. Fellow Scottish band, The Blue Nile, were likewise capable of blending a combination of differing layers and facets to create consistently magical output. Lush electronic sounds reverberating behind an emotionally brittle, opulent voice – intense and gentle in equal measure.
Despite flirting with commercial success The Blue Nile ultimately ceded to the role of cult heroes – revered by some, unknown to most. Chvrches stand on this precipice. They have the potential to be loved by many or be adored by a select few; marketing could be the deciding factor in their future success. The band recently acknowledged the fact that Chvrches would be a whole lot more successful at this point if Lauren Mayberry had been made the sole focus of the band (The Guardian again). Yet this belies all that the band stands for – their truly honest ethic – that first and foremost, Chvrches is all about the music.
Our Broken Record 